Slytherin are Staying
by Ferosh
Summary: Slytherin decide as a house to stay behind and help the rest of the school fight the Dark Lord.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Daphne Greengrass was mentioned in the books also (she is not an original character). **

**Note: I thought it was unfair that JKR wrote that all the Slytherins didn't stay and help the school fight against Voldemort, so I decided to write this, it's probably closer to what I would have liked to have happened with the Slytherins.**

**"Syltherin are Staying"**

A silvery glow lit up the otherwise dark common room, and ten figures could be seen in the faint light, reclining in the soft black leather couches. None seemed very concerned or aware that a war would take place in a few moments in the castle that was only a few minutes away for now they were content. All ten Slytherin seniors stared forward into the fire, watching the silver flames dance, twist, turn and twirl. No one spoke; the silence had engulfed the entire room and the crackling of the magical flames was all that could be heard. Every now and then one of them would shift into a more comfortable position and continue to stare at the naked flames. Watching the fire had become a popular past time in the Slytherin house, especially towards the end of the school year.

Though the Slytherin's would never publicly admit it, they were worried. Worried for their long time friend Draco Malfoy and worried for the reputation of their house. Long ago they had begun to lose their faith, or what little faith they had in the Dark Arts. Not all the Slytherin's were followers of Lord Voldemort, which is something the rest of the school had always believed. When Draco had been sucked into the Dark Lords following and been shoved by Voldemort himself into the inner circle, all the Slytherin seniors constantly fretted about his safety, especially Pansy Parkinson. And it was at the time that they learned how deeply Draco was in they began losing their faith and pride in their houses dark heritage.

Draco Malfoy had written them letters, letters that explained what it was it like so deep in. He was in such a dangerous position and he wanted out so badly that the Slytherin's began to despise Voldemort more and more with each letter they received from Draco. It made them uncomfortable to think that right now Draco was somewhere in this castle and he probably desperately needed their help. Though the Slytherins might have seemed like they didn't care much about each other they were perhaps the closet house in the entire school, they watched each others backs and looked after one another constantly, the rest of the school was just too blind to see it.

And that's what Vincent and Gregory had set of to do the minute they learned Draco had returned to the castle, stormed off to help him, put themselves in danger for the sake of a friend. The remaining seniors would come with them, but Vincent explained in his thick and slow voice that the more of them there were the more attention they would attract. They understood, but would they really just sit here while Draco, Vincent and Gregory risked there lives for something they didn't really believe in?

Daphne Greengrass tore her eyes away from the flames, and coughed lightly getting the attention of her fellow Slytherins. The leather squeaked beneath her as she moved into a more comfortable position on the couch beside Blaise.

Before she began speaking, she pushed her short brown hair behind her ear. "I don't think this is right, us just sitting here, while all the other houses fight," she said. "Draco is stuck on the wrong side, he wants to be on the right side and we could help him by fighting with the rest of the schools seniors."

Theodore Nott glared at her, clenching his fist where it lay on the arm rest. He was easily angered. "I'm not fighting against the Dark Lord!" he hissed at her between clenched teeth. He was a weedy character, but extremely clever and one of the few in the house still devoted to Voldemort. "My father was a Death Eater; I can't just go against him now."

A few people nodded at this, while a lot didn't move or say a word; they had heard Nott loud and clear though.

This was another thing the rest of the school did not know about the Slytherins, though they were not kind to muggle born witches and wizards, they were very accepting of people in their own house and understood their differences as long as they were Pure-Blood. The Slytherins were as pure as pure comes.

Pansy cleared her throat and spoke to all the seniors gathered around. "As a house," she said. "It seems we have three choices. One is to fight with the rest of the school, and help Draco because he's in no position to help the school himself," this received a few quiet cheers from the Slytherins, and Daphne smiled at Pansy, who continued. "Another is that we help the Dark Lord, and turn against the school, the last option is that we sit here and do nothing."

There was silence as everyone thought this over; even Nott looked like he was giving these options a lot of thought. Someone sniffed as the silence continued on. Pansy looked uncomfortable, she was starting to think that the Slytherins would go and fight with Voldemort; she knew Nott would probably turn to him, but the others she wasn't sure about.

Eventually the silence was broken by Blaise, who sat up straight in his seat and looked at every Slytherin gathered there in turn. "I am personally going to fight with the school. For Draco," he added, his eyes immediately going back to stare at the fire, a small smile appeared on his face when Daphne patted his arm softly.

"I'm staying to help the school also," said Daphne.

Several more Slytherins agreed to help the school, bringing the total to five who had agreed to stay, and five undecided. Even Theodore Nott's friend, who was sitting right behind him, had decided to stay with the school and fight.

Nott looked outraged at this. "Are you not the sons and daughters of Death Eaters?" he asked in disgust and horror.

A Slytherin boy sitting very close to the dancing flames said in a deep voice. "My mother was a Death Eater, she's in Azkaban and too crazy to even care what I do, _Nott,_" He spat out the last words, like they were an unpleasant taste on the end of his tongue. "I am staying."

"And not all of us are the sons and daughters of Death Eaters!" said the boys female friend, who was sitting beside him.

Nott stood up, brushing down his black robes, his eyes where full with anger and annoyance. "You are not true Slytherins!" he scoffed. "Salazar Slytherin would be ashamed!" He walked towards the stone door and before leaving he spat on the floor and stepped out into the dungeons with a sour look on his face.

"He will most likely die," Blaise said quietly. A few nods accompanied his statement; Daphne squirmed in her seat next to Blaise uncomfortably.

"We will look out for him though, won't we?" she asked.

Pansy shook her head. "He has decided and so have the rest of us, does anyone else want to join Theodore?"

No one moved and no one spoke after she said these words. Pansy smiled slightly, and stood shakily to her feet. She beckoned to the rest of the Slytherins to do the same. They all stood and stood close together, looking around at each other wondering what to do next.

"Well," said Daphne. "Shouldn't we go up and inform Professor McGonagall that we will be staying too?"

There was a nod heads that seemed synchronized and the nine Slytherins filled out of their common door and began the slow walk up through the dungeons.

When they entered the Great Hall a number of heads turned in shock, people from other houses stared gaping at the small band of Slytherins as they made their way through the crowds preparing to fight. Pansy suddenly noticed how little Slytherin seniors there where remaining at the school, only thirteen of them if you counted Draco, Vincent and Gregory, she supposed it was because Salazar Slytherin was so picky when he had sorted students and he must he have past that on to the sorting hat, to only chose the best for Slytherin. She felt strangely comforted by that and held her head a little higher as she and the others walked through the crowds.

Huge numbers of seniors from the other houses had opted to stay, nearly every senior from each house. They Slytherins were not at all surprised by this a number of students tried to catch their eyes, but the Slytherins walked on and did not look smile at any one from a different house.

"Professor!" cried Blaise as he spotted her amongst some Hufflepuff students. "Over there," he said pointing her location out to Pansy, who strode over with determined strides and the rest followed.

The Professors attention had already been caught by Blaise's shout, she was looking around for the person who called for her. Her eyes widened as she noticed the pack of green clad students walking up to her.

"Oh my," she said, looking around at the group. "What is it that you want?"

Daphne spoke first. "We are staying, Professor."

She peered at them quite astounded, as though she had only expected the students from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. "Well," she stuttered, quite unsure of what to say to them all. "Please go, and get ready, You-Know-Who should be here any minute." And with that she walked off, clutching her hat to her head.

The Slytherins couldn't help themselves as she walked away; they burst into quiet bouts of laughter, though Blaise only managed a few chuckles.

"She was so uncomfortable saying his name around us!" the boy who had been sitting by the fire laughed. "She must think we are up to something!"

After they'd all recovered from their laughter, they became serious again. Pansy spoke to them again briefly. "If you see Draco is in trouble, help him, you remember that he thought the Death Eaters would turn against him tonight," the house nodded and let her continue. "And most importantly help each other."

Professor Flitwick walked past the group and looked up at them with an inquisitive look on his face, he was about to ask if they were staying or not when Blaise answered.

"Yes, Professor," he said. "We are staying to fight for Hogwarts."


End file.
